News On Japan
Society

Aichi man arrested again after having slashed over 1,000 women’s tires to get to know them better

Jul 06, 2020 | News On Japan

Jul 06, 2020 (soranews24.com) - Suspect simply can’t stop attempting to meet women in the worst possible way.

On 11 June, a 43-year-old woman exited a supermarket in Higashiura, Aichi Prefecture and drove away in her car. However, she didn’t get far before noticing that her driver’s side rear tire had gone completely flat.

While examining the flat another car drove up. The driver, 32-year-old Yoshito Harada, offered to replace her damaged tire. While a kind gesture from an apparently total stranger, the woman was struck with a sudden case of déjà vu. This is because the exact same thing had happened to her in June of the previous year.

Unsettled by the coincidence, she decided to report the encounter to the police who investigated the matter and found through surveillance camera footage that Harada had slashed her tire in the parking lot of the supermarket. He then followed her car until it pulled over so that he could be the first on the scene to offer help.

According to police, Harada admitted to the crime, saying that he did it in order to meet the woman.

Now, here’s where the plot thickens. As the news of this strange attempt at courtship came out some netizens were reminded of an eerily similar case in 2013. The suspect then was also a man named Yoshito Harada who was 25 at the time and hailed from the same city as this Harada.

Assuming this isn’t a remarkable coincidence, this man was picked up seven years earlier for the exact same misdeed. In fact, during that arrest Harada’s lawyer remarked that he had probably done it about 1,000 times.

Harada avoided prison by compensating the few victims who came forward 30,000 yen (US$279) each. He also agreed to certain monitoring measures such as a GPS tracker that his parents could use to make sure he was staying out of trouble.

It didn’t seem to work, however, and he was picked up again in 2016 after a victim told an acquaintance who also had her tire “fixed” by a 28-year-old man in the same way in 2015. This was the exact same situation that led to his 2013 arrest.

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Record Rain Triggers Level 5 Warning in Fukui

Record rainfall caused 19 rivers to overflow across Fukui Prefecture, flooding roads and homes, triggering landslides and temporarily forcing authorities to issue the highest-level heavy rain emergency warning from early Sunday morning.

Drones Deliver Supplies to Residents Cut Off by Landslide

Drones were used to deliver food and daily necessities to an isolated mountain community in Himi City, Toyama Prefecture, on August 30 after torrential rain triggered a landslide that cut off road access, while volunteers continued flood recovery work in neighboring Ishikawa Prefecture.

Typhoon No. 23 Overtakes No. 22 East of Japan as Both Head North

Two typhoons east of Japan were moving northward on August 30, with Typhoon No. 23 (Banlan) overtaking Typhoon No. 22 (Artau), although neither storm is expected to have a direct impact on Japan.

Nine-Minute Drone Video Shows Scale of Aeon Mall Damage

A 9-minute, 13-second drone video filmed inside Aeon Mall Kumamoto two days after the deadly explosion has provided a detailed view of the destruction, showing collapsed ceilings, heavy dust and widespread damage that may have affected between one-third and nearly half of the shopping center.

Conditions Ease as Typhoon No. 18 Passes Okinawa

Strong Typhoon No. 18 was moving northwest through the East China Sea on the night of August 26, gradually pulling away from Okinawa and the Amami Islands as lingering rain, strong winds and high waves were expected to ease. As of 9 p.m. on August 26, the typhoon was over waters north-northwest of Kume Island and moving northwest.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         
MORE Society NEWS

Three Students Swept Out to Sea in Kagoshima

Three teenage boys who went missing after being swept offshore from the coast of Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima Prefecture, on August 28 were found in the sea near the scene on August 29 and confirmed dead.

Foreign Cyclist Suffers Broken Shoulder in Shiga Hit-and-Run

A foreign man in his 30s suffered serious injuries after being struck by a car while riding a bicycle in Higashiomi, Shiga Prefecture, early on August 29, with police investigating the incident as a hit-and-run.

Bread Dumping Mystery Takes a Twist

A fake video apparently created with generative AI showing a large bear eating piles of sliced bread has spread on social media following a series of illegal bread dumping incidents in Tottori Prefecture, prompting the prefectural government to warn that misinformation could cause economic harm.

Teens Arrested for Spraying Fire Extinguishers at Police Station

Three youths, including a high school student and a junior high school student, have been arrested on suspicion of obstructing police duties after allegedly stealing fire extinguishers and spraying them toward a police station in Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture.

Avant-Garde Artist Yayoi Kusama Dies at 97

Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese avant-garde artist whose obsessive dots, nets, pumpkins and mirrored rooms grew from intensely personal visions into some of the most recognizable images in contemporary art, died at a hospital in Tokyo on August 14, 2026, at the age of 97. Her death was announced on August 27 by companies representing the artist, which said she continued painting until her final days.

Bus Driver Crashes While Shooing Away Mosquito

A Toei bus crashed into a traffic signal in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward on the morning of August 26 after the driver lost control of the steering wheel while trying to shoo away a mosquito, leaving two male passengers injured.

Don't Touch Paramedics' Shoes! Kanazawa Warns

Kanazawa's fire department is asking residents not to straighten or rearrange shoes removed by paramedics during emergency calls, warning that the well-intentioned gesture can delay the transport of patients by around 30 seconds and potentially interfere with medical care.

Luxury Watch Theft Carried Out in 10 Seconds

Two men who stole four luxury watches worth a combined 200 million yen from a store at Tokyo's Nakano Broadway may have carefully planned the 10-second theft, with one suspect renting an electric kick scooter shortly before the crime and investigators examining whether the other man's escape on foot was intended as a decoy.